The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is confirmed to be receiving a next-gen upgrade in the future. The six-year-old action RPG has a large fanbase, so many will likely want to return to Geralt's last adventure one more time, especially with any next-gen upgrades. However, as of yet, not too much is known about the updated version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt besides what has been suggested from the game’s cover art. For now, at least, fans can only speculate what the upgrade will offer.
Ghost of Tsushima is another title that received a next-gen upgrade following a successful launch on previous-gen systems. Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut has been widely praised for making an already great game even better. The upgrade addressed some of the fan's concerns about the game, while adding noteworthy performance boosts and new content. There are plenty of lessons that can be learned from the success of Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut that CD Projekt Red may want to consider for The Witcher 3’s upcoming upgrade.
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When is The Witcher 3 Next-Gen Coming Out?
The Witcher 3 was one of the most popular games on the last generation of consoles and has earned a committed fandom. While fans may be eager to already jump back in and replay the game, there isn’t long to wait for the next-gen upgrade. CD Projekt Red is aiming for a release window of late 2021, although CD Projekt Red’s SVP of business development Michał Nowakowski has alluded to "lessons learned" with Cyberpunk 2077. This was used to explain that the late 2021 release window is not set in stone, and would be subject to change in order to avoid another release like Cyberpunk 2077.
What’s included in The Witcher 3’s next-gen upgrade isn’t entirely clear as of yet, however, fans do still have some idea of what to expect. For starters, the reveal of The Witcher 3 next-gen upgrade’s cover art has suggested that it will include all DLCs as it a "complete edition." The Witcher 3 for next-gen will likely include both Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, but that isn’t all. DLC based on The Witcher’s Netflix show has been announced and will be included within the upgrade. All of this is on top of the expected performance upgrades and slashed load times the next-gen SSDs will provide.
Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut Improvements
PlayStation exclusive, Ghost of Tsushima was yet another of the previous generation’s most popular titles. The game launched on the PlayStation 4, and blew fans away with its story and in-depth gameplay. While it launched towards the end of the PlayStation 4’s life cycle, just a handful of months prior to the release of the PlayStation 5, the game has already received a Director’s Cut upgrade. Like The Witcher 3, Ghost of Tsushima is also an expansive open-world game, so many of the lessons learned through Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut may be applicable to The Witcher 3.
One of the major selling points of the PlayStation 5 has surprisingly been the DualSense controller. Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut has made good use of both haptic feedback and trigger resistance to make the combat feel weightier. The Witcher 3 would also benefit from playing into the DualSense’s features, although this would be exclusive to PlayStation 5 versions of the game. Ghost of Tsushima also introduced quality of life updates, including accessibility options. Given The Witcher 3’s age, quality of life improvements are inevitably needed. Among fan's wishes would be an improved inventory layout and general improvements to the way Roach controls.
Ghost of Tsushima did a good job of removing some of the minor frustrations fans had with the game, including the ability to hide the player’s quiver, and Witcher fans will be hoping some of their frustrations are also remedied.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions in development.
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